Democratic debates, round 3: What NOT to do

Thursday

All it takes is one forehead-smacking flub, a poorly conceived jab or perhaps worst of all: A forgettable performance.

When 10 Democrats take the stage in Houston on Thursday night for the third round of debates, each will try to build momentum or simply stay afloat. But then again, things don’t always go as planned.

We asked six opinion writers for GateHouse Media newsrooms across the country to share their thoughts on what the candidates should not do during this debate.

Former Vice President Joe Biden

GOSHAY: Biden must find a way to stop his unforced errors. Not all gaffes are endearing moments. In this age of hyped-up, nonstop coverage, too many gaffes will cause supporters agita. Biden has the advantage of deep political experience, so he knows how to navigate Washington. He must always tie that experience to bread-and-butter issues — and so without tying himself in knots.

PITTS: As the front-runner, Biden can again expect to take incoming shots from all sides. His mission is to stay on an even keel. While he must defend himself, his best play is to turn any attack on him into a shot at the main target, Donald Trump. Because as front-runner, Trump is the person he is being measured against.

O’MEARA: What Biden can’t control is his age. What he can control are his actions, which will either reflect or refute his age. What he mustn’t do then is cede his time to other candidates and allow himself to be bullied off the main stage.

Sen. Cory Booker

BLOUNT: Don’t make promises you can’t keep. After a recent mass shooting, Booker tweeted “Beginning on Day One in office, I will take executive action to reduce gun violence — closing dangerous loopholes in gun sales, cracking down on gun manufacturers ... .” Sounds good but unlikely to happen. Underpromise and overdeliver.

PITTS: The New Jersey senator has had good debates but he needs to turn it up. The primary voters are riled up over Trump and they seem to doubt Booker can prosecute the case against the president.

YOST: Much is known about the New Jersey senator’s policy positions, but what do we really know about him? He should talk less about issues like his reparations legislation and decriminalizing marijuana and more about what informs and drives him as a person.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg

YOST: Mayor Pete may be a really good mayor, but that doesn’t translate easily into being able to run the country. Better for him to showcase his intelligence and likeability and avoid too many references to his less relevant municipal experience.

GRUMET: The South Bend mayor should stop playing it safe. Buttigieg has been a solid, but not stand-out, figure in the previous debates. He needs to find some way to break from the pack.

O’MEARA: It’s great to see someone so young and smart thinking ahead. He’s said that this election isn’t about 2024, but 2054. Trying to win paycheck-to-paycheck voters with visions of 2054 will not tug on their psychology. Holster the generational change and don’t pull on a thread any later than 2020.

Former HUD Secretary Julian Castro

BLOUNT: Don’t go quietly in the night. Julian Castro’s poll numbers are low, which is surprising because but in so many ways his candidacy ticks many of the boxes that the Democrats say they want. He is young, ethnic and experienced. But he has failed to resonant with voters. Be aggressive during the debate, even a bit rude and go down fighting so that viewers will remember what you stood for.

GRUMET: While Castro has been delivering the Democratic field’s sharpest rebukes of Donald Trump’s inhumane immigration policies, he runs the risk of alienating moderates with his call to decriminalize unlawful border crossings. Castro should stop providing ammo to those who accuse Democrats of wanting “open borders.”

YOST: The former mayor of San Antonio doesn’t need to answer questions in Spanish like his fellow Texan O’Rourke to remind voters that he knows best what immigration reform is needed. Nor should he let Biden claim all the Obama bona fides on the stage.

Sen. Kamala Harris

GOSHAY: She should not shirk from her experience as a former prosecutor and state attorney general. Harris needs to unapologetically reemphasize her background in law enforcement, while acknowledging that inequalities and injustice in the legal system do exist.

GRUMET: A mistake for her to direct so much of her firepower at her fellow Democrats. Harris should spend more time prosecuting the case against Donald Trump.

O’MEARA: Strategically attacking Biden on the issue of bussing in the first debate worked. Harris showed she has the kind of prosecutorial backbone to be a legitimate nominee. And yet, she has slipped precipitously in the polls, meaning her team might think she has to take a similar tact. It worked once. Don’t do it again. It’ll come off as desperate and weirdly self-plagiarizing.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar

BLOUNT: Don’t compromise yourself to be a better candidate. Klobuchar needs to show, and not tell voters why they would want you to work for them as president. Setting high expectations is not bad. Setting low expectations is.

GRUMET: The Minnesota senator understands policy challenges down to the tiniest detail, but she risks losing voters in the weeds. Klobuchar needs to show voters how her policy pragmatism fuels a vision Americans should buy into.

YOST: She might be tempted to try to distinguish herself by going extreme on policy as some of the frontrunners have, but she shouldn’t.

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke

GOSHAY: Passion is not enough. People also want pragmatism, as in specific proposals to deal with such pressing issues as climate change, the economy and gun safety. O’Rourke’s ability to speak the unvarnished truth is an asset he needs to take full advantage of.

GRUMET: O’Rourke has channeled his grief over the massacre in his hometown of El Paso to make an urgent call for gun reform, but every time O’Rourke drops an f-bomb, his language draws attention away from his message.

O’MEARA: Polling at 2% means, quite literally, the damage is done. What’s to lose? Don’t be shy. Don’t be brittle. Don’t stand idly by. Don’t let 2% polling keep you quiet on issues of climate change. No, you won’t be president, but don’t act like you can’t be president of the Senate.

Sen. Bernie Sanders

GOSHAY: Voters already know life has been unfair. Many have played by the rules and had their hands handed to them. Yet they still want more than “old-man-yells-at-cloud” rhetoric. They want to hear realistic plans on how to make America work for a lot more people than it does now. Sanders must stop proposing all things to all people without a pragmatic way to underwrite it.

BLOUNT: Bernie Sanders has been called a socialist, leftist and even a communist. He should continue to embrace who he is and not try to be more moderate.

O’MEARA: A mistake for him, at this point, would be to move to the center. He shouldn’t cut his agenda with centrist views.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren

BLOUNT: Don’t blow it. Warren has serious momentum and is gaining on Biden, the front runner. She needs to use this opportunity to showcase her qualifications and continue to put behind her that fiasco of claiming to be Native American.

PITTS: Her goal should be to avoid getting stuck in individual entanglements with candidates, and instead keep her message broad and focused on large economic forces — her bread and butter.

YOST: The Massachusetts senator should not apologize for her Republican past. Her time spent in the other camp could be an advantage.

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang

BLOUNT: Don’t be a downer. Be positive about … something other than that you’re the person best suited to defeat Donald Trump.

GRUMET: The only political outsider taking this stage should resist the temptation to mention his Freedom Dividend — a $1,000 monthly payment to every American over 18 — at every turn. There’s much more to the presidency.

PITTS: If there is one candidate about whom it can be said, “Don’t change a thing,” it’s Wang. He knows he can relax out there and he does. He is the longest-shot candidate with an even longer-shot policy idea, universal basic income. He is right of course that automation and A.I. will eventually render most employment obsolete, and the time to start planning for that future is now.

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